Charmed DVD collections
DVDs of Charmed were first released in 2005, after overcoming licensing issues with the commercial songs in individual episodes. The first seven Charmed DVD sets contain no special features in accordance with Paramount's "no extras" policy, and much to the chagrin of both the fans and of Charmed executive producer Brad Kern, who had stated many times that his efforts to persuade Paramount to include some form of extras were unsuccessful. This changed in 2006, when Paramount's television DVD department was taken over by CBS, resulting in a promise that the last Charmed DVD box set would contain bonus material. The special features that were confirmed for Season 8 included three featurettes: "To The Manor Born"; "The Making of Charmed"; and a two part documentary "The Story of Charmed" (which also contains some parts of the unaired pilot) and "Forever Charmed". On the Region 1 DVD set there are cast and crew commentaries on episode 1 (Brad Kern, Kaley Cuco and James Conway), episode 10 (Brad Kern , Brian Krause and Cameron Litvack) and episode 22 (Brad Kern and James Conway). The Region 1 set also includes three Easter eggs (Tape Ball, 100 episodes, and Book of Shadows). In Issue 12 of Charmed magazine, Kern stated that he wanted approximately 90 minutes of extras, and would also have liked to include the unaired pilot (starring Lori Rom as Phoebe Halliwell); however, this encountered legal difficulties. The unaired pilot would later be released with the various region 1 editions of the complete series BoS sets. The season 8 DVDs feature a new opening theme, having replaced the song "How Soon is Now?" with an instrumental piece due to the producers losing the license for the song. Cover art Most regions share the same cover art; only the covers for Seasons 3, 5, 7 and 8 have been changed from their Region 1 releases. The third season cover art sees the pictures of the sisters on the front and back covers swapped around between Regions however the background stays the same. The season 5 release for Region 2 was a green cover with a group picture of the sisters; this was completely changed for the Region 1 release with a bright blue background and individual pictures of the sisters put together. The season 7 boxset was first released in Region 2 with a yellow cover, when released in region 1 format this was changed to a purple box, Piper's picture was replaced with a season 6 promo picture (due to the lack of season 7 promo's) and Paige and Piper swapped places. For season 8, Region 1 has a Scrying Crystal under the chandelier, which is shown above the girls, for Regions 2-6, a red globe replaces the scrying crystal. Another difference on the season 8 dvd cover is that they lowered Rose McGowan on the region 1 cover so that she would be on the same height as Holly and Alyssa. Also the region 1 dvd box has a yellow color, the region 2 a black/grey one since season 7 was already yellow in region 2. These changed would also be made in the DVD menu's. Significant box sets After the release of the fourth season, a special box was made containing all four seasons. It was a simple black box with the dvd boxes and a slipcase with gold lettering. The "Book of Shadows" edition DVD collection was originally released as an exclusive to Australia (Region 4) on November 16, 2006. This limited edition run features Seasons 1-7, a numbered certificate, and includes a selection of the original illustrated pages used in the Book of Shadows prop featured in the show. A write-up of each seasons' episodes is followed by that season on six discs, which fit on one page. The book contains an extra page reserved for the separately released Season 8 DVDs. After the release of the separate season 8 dvd box, the dvd's of season 8 were inlcuded. The "Magic Chest" edition features all eight seasons, and comes in an ornate miniature wooden chest with leatherworks and a red velvet interior. It was released exclusively to Region 2 countries during March 2007. Paramount announced on June 21, 2008 that two "complete series" box sets that were released for North America on November 18, 2008. One set is a regular release, and the other a "Limited Deluxe Edition". Both packages are styled after the Book of Shadows in the series, with the deluxe edition being full size, and the regular release being scaled down. Both sets also include more extras, including the unaired pilot. The UK received a second complete box set, titled "The Ultimate Boxset", with the same bonus features as North America, released on October 27, 2008. On November 27, 2008, Australia received two options for the complete series as well. One set identical to UK's release, while the other a purple "stylish velour collector's box", with a velvet lining. Both sets contain the same extra features. Category:Merchandise